americans hate themselves
i don't have an answer to WHY but i know that they do
(i say "they" even though i'm american because i do not suffer from this ailment)
HOW I KNOW THEY HATE THEMSELVES:
they are so obsessed with being the best at everything that they do not afford themselves the luxury of simply enjoying themselves, because they do not believe they are worthy of enjoying life.
but being "best" is reduced to numbers
because qualitative judgements require actual reflection
they're constantly trying to improve themselves to be worthy of SOMETHING, and maybe that thing is mere approval from others, because it seems that "enjoying-life" is meant for the afterlife
(that's the concept of "heaven" isn't it?)
woran liegt das?
- christianity? the concept of heaven, needing to be "good" enough, being judged all the time; jesus christ as a role model and jesus christ being coincidentally the Most Special Person in the World such that everyone is striving to be just a little more Special than other people...
(would Harry Potter appeal to a society of taoists? oh it would be so laughable...)
this is the type of thing that people would usually talk about on youtube, you know, they love to point out societal problems and act superior and cancel each other
but that's beneath me
it's qualitatively beneath me
i sort of pride myself on having mixed cultural background having lived in shanghai, california, switzerland/italy (& having spent the last 1/3 of my life with a swiss man who i feel "raised" me)
from talking to europeans i notice a combined yearning+jealousy toward the US
and i just want to tell them: stop. you're jealous because you're yearning but you shouldn't be yearning.
(most) europeans are better at enjoying life and have hobbies not chores.